Residents honored for ‘courageous’ acts

The Vermont Avenue off-ramp of the Hollywood (101) Freeway was congested on the afternoon of June 15, 2011, when a homeless man suddenly became the victim of an assault by a man with a tire iron.

LAUSD plant manager David Muñoz helped detain a suspect who had sexually assaulted a child at a school in Boyle Heights. Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey (left) and deputy district attorney Iliana Alvarez presented him with the award. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

Despite many witnesses, Pinkberry co-founder Young Lee repeatedly struck the transient, Donald Bolding, as an accomplice lingered nearby. Officials believe Bolding would have been murdered if not for Alicia de la Cruz and Robert Edwards, who selflessly opted to intervene.

“I just couldn’t believe that no one else was stopping, so I just reacted,” de la Cruz said. “I can’t keep going and not do anything about it. I’m not the kind of person to just turn around and pretend I didn’t see anything, so I think that’s the reason I reacted the way I did.”

Like de la Cruz, Edwards said his actions were instinctive.

“To me, I didn’t think about it all because … it was just what anybody should do as a human being,” he said. “[If] you see somebody getting beaten up, you should intervene, period. I really didn’t think about it.”

Their concern for an unfortunate crime victim garnered them a Courageous Citizen Award from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office last Friday at City Club Los Angeles.

Four individuals joined the nearly 750 people who have been honored with the award since its inception 29 years ago. An LAUSD employee who detained a sexual assault suspect until police arrived and a city of Bell whistleblower were also recognized.

“We gather to honor individuals who have demonstrated a tremendous amount of bravery,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey said. “They stepped up in very dangerous situations, and within a moment, they decided that they were going to make a difference, even if it meant compromising their own safety. These ordinary people took extraordinary steps to assist others when they were most vulnerable. Not only did they stop the crime, they made sure that the criminal was prosecuted.”

Edwards and de la Cruz had no idea why a man was pummeling a homeless person with a tire iron in broad daylight in June 2011. They would later learn that Lee and Bolding had engaged in a heated exchange minutes before the assault.

Deputy District Attorney Bobby Zoumberakis said Bolding was panhandling and approached Lee’s car. Lee began to swear at Bolding, who then lifted his shirt, flashing a sexually explicit tattoo, Zoumberakis said.

Lee was offended, so he parked the car, retrieved a tire iron and went back to confront Bolding with one of his passengers. Zoumberakis said Lee repeatedly struck Bolding while demanding that the homeless man get on his hands and knees and apologize. Bolding suffered a broken forearm and several cuts to his head.

Edwards, a San Fernando Valley resident, was on his way home from the veterinarian’s office with his wife and their dog. Though outnumbered, he parked the car and ran to the scene.

“Robert Edwards runs right up to Young Lee’s face,” Zoumberakis said. “Standing inches away from him, he yells, ‘What the blank are you doing?’”

De la Cruz had just left work, and she was en route to pick up her child from day camp before returning to their Studio City home. She, too, parked her car and started running toward the assailants.

Their presence was enough to make Lee and his accomplice flee. De la Cruz got back into her car and followed the suspects until she was able to write down their license plate number.

“Ladies and gentleman, if it weren’t for Alicia’s quick thinking, the crime would have gone unsolved because Young Lee covered his tracks,” Zoumberakis said, adding that Lee threatened witnesses, wiped down the tire iron and returned the car he was driving while his car was in the shop. “The thought of a person with vast financial resources and a violent sense of entitlement getting away with such a heinous act is completely frightening.”

Lee was later sentenced to seven years in state prison — the maximum term for assault with a deadly weapon.

“I knew it was going to get ugly, but I’m just happy it turned out the way it did,” de la Cruz said. “I guess I should feel proud, but I think that I would do it again and it’s not for [the recognition]. I just did it because it was the right thing to do.”

David Muñoz II was working as a plant manager for the LAUSD when a six-year-old girl was kidnapped from the front porch of her family’s home in Boyle Heights in 2011. The child’s family learned that the suspect was likely heading to a nearby elementary school, so the family went to the school and encountered Muñoz, who was working at the facility.

According to the district attorney’s office, Muñoz helped the family look for the girl, and they soon found the victim, naked and crying, in a water heater closet. They also found the suspect, who attempted to flee.

Muñoz helped detain the man until police arrived. He also testified at a preliminary hearing, despite concerns about the defendant’s family and possible gang ties.

“I mean, it’s an honor, you know, but a horrible act was committed on a girl — I still think about that. My actions were just to make sure that she was found and that she was safe,” Muñoz said, adding that he was proud to be honored, though he wished the incident had never happened. “Sometimes, things are out of our control.”

In late 2008, Bell resident Roger Ramirez heard a rumor that the local officials were taking home staggering salaries, and he decided to confront them about it at a city council meeting.

His questions went unanswered, but he was invited to file a California Public Records Act request, which he did. The city clerk provided Ramirez the information two weeks later, but the salaries did not match with the information he was receiving from a reliable source. So he asked for the actual salary information.

“The expression on her face — not saying a word or arguing with me — I knew something was happening,” Ramirez said.

According to the district attorney’s office, the fraudulent response he received was later used to prosecute two former Bell city officials and five former council members in the biggest municipal corruption case the district attorney’s office has ever seen. Ramirez testified at a preliminary hearing and two trials.

“I do feel honored very much and humbled by it. I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “I did what I had to do.”

Ramirez still lives in Bell, and while residents would like to see bigger projects come to the city, the situation there has improved, he said.